Haliotis tuberculata – ormer, abalone, sea ear or mutton fish, a shell fish
collected from beneath rocks only at exceptionally low tides from the end of
October until the latter part of April.

“‘Tis much bigger than an oyster, and like them, good either fresh or pickled, but infinitely more pleasant to the gusto.”

(News from the Channel, 1673)

INTRODUCING THE ORMER

Ormer is the local name for what are known worldwide as abalones and is found on Guernsey & Jersey shores. They are gastropod molluscs which are basically marine snails. An ormer will take 3 to 4 years to grow to 9cm in length, and a a fully mature Ormer can be as big as 15.5cm in length. They can live for over 15 years.

They are ‘quintessentially Guensey’ and have been eaten by the natives of these islands for centuries. Naturally enough therefore there are many ways to prepare and eat them. In this article we’ve resurrected a few of the more ancient recipes from bygone days.

STEWED ORMERS

Ingredients

Ormers

Butter

1 finely chopped onion

Mixed Herbs

Stock Gravy

Preparation

Soak in salt water for 1/2 an hour.

Scrub ormers with a hard bristle brush.

Put in clean water and wash until white.

Take them out and beat them with a wooden rolling pin on a wooden chopping board until they become tender, taking care not to break them.

Brown the ormers in a frying pan with butter. They will then look like steak.

Put them in a stewing pan with a large onion, cut up, season with herbs to taste and cover with thick stock gravy and cook for 8 hours.

They should then be as tender as veal cutlets but far more delicious !!

PICKLED ORMERS

Ingredients

Ormers

Vinegar

Salt

Peppercorns

Preparation

Clean the Ormers (see Stewed Ormer recipe above)

Boil the ormers in a mixture of half vinegar and half water with salt, bay leaves and peppercorns added in.

Simmer for 4 hours.

Bottle in warmed preserving jars and seal quickly, ensuring that the jars are airtight.

DRESSED ORMERS

Ingredients

Ormers

Flour

1 large Onion

Pepper and Salt

1 or 2 Garlic Cloves

1 or 2 carrots

1 spoonful of Catsup Thyme

Lemon peel

Preparation

Clean the Ormers (see Stewed Ormer recipe above)

Beat them well in a Cloth, then flour them.

Fry them with onions in butter.

When brown put them into a stewpan, adding the hot gravy made in the frying pan with hot water (or gravy if you have any)

Add a dusting of flour, along with pepper, salt, a clove or two, a bit or two of carrot, a spoonful of Catsup Thyme and a little lemon peel.

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